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Neuwied, June 15,1946
"Did you ever get the letter telling you of the tragic end of Anneliese and her family? No one of you mentioned it. She
was in Dresden with her mother and sister when the Russians came in. He
husband died in the war several years ago. She and her two dear little
boys, her mother and sister committed suicide out of fear of future
happenings. How she must have suffered to be induced to such."
Tante Marie (born
in Richmond, married her German cousin, who held a doctoral degree of
what we don't know, and lived there through both world wars) was the
aunt of my brother-in-law, a VMI graduate. My sister complied a book
which has her correspondence with the Army, government and her brother
in Richmond from 1945 until 1949 when she returned to this country.
There are many fascinating letters. She had more food during the war
years living in Germany than she had the two years after when the allies
were in control. Wrap your mind around that. Also, they were terrified
of the Russians and one of her relatives lived through days of horrid
Russian occupation, but after they left and she found that they were
returning, killed herself and her children. Imagine the horror.
The Russian rapes caused many German women to commit suicide. The preferred form of suicide was poison, and most Berlin women seem to have been provided with poison before the Red Army arrived.
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Churches were frequently used by Russian soldiers to rape... In unending succession were girls, women and nuns violated... Not merely in secret, in hidden corners, but in the sight of everybody, even in churches, in the streets and in public places were nuns, women and even eight-year-old girls attacked again and again...
Most Frenchmen speak of the correctness of the German Army's behavior. They seem particularly impressed that German soldiers were shot for incivility to women and compare this with the American troops' bad behavior to women...
More @ NamSouth
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